Arabs Protest Unh Branch Plan

University Expects To Open West Bank School In February

November 24, 1992

About a dozen members of Arab groups protested the announcement Monday that the University of New Haven plans to open a branch campus in Elkana on the West Bank of the Jordan River.

While a small group picketed outside the school's student center on the West Haven campus, members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Connecticut chapter attended the press conference and quizzed college President Lawrence J. DeNardis about the branch.

In a letter to DeNardis Friday, Albert Mokhiber asked the school to abandon its plans to open the branch in February, saying it violates both U.S. policy and several international laws and treaties.

Because the branch would be located in occupied territory, it could jeopardize peace negotiations at a crucial time, Mokhiber said.

"Regardless of your good intentions, which we have no reason to doubt, opening such a program serves only to legitimize Israel's occupation of the West Bank," he wrote.

DeNardis said the branch, to be called the HaSharon campus of the University of New Haven, would offer bachelor's degree programs in business, arts and sciences, engineering, hotel and restaurant administration and public safety. A number of those degrees have previously not been available to local residents, officials of the college said.

The branch will be open to Arabs, Palestinians, Israelis and others of all races and religions, DeNardis said.

"Our hope is that, by studying and learning together at our branch, the people of this region will be ultimately brought closer together in all ways," he said.

The college said the branch will be located about 10 yards inside the "green line" that demarcates the West Bank, but does not believe that would violate international laws or treaties, said Antoinette M. Blood, a spokeswoman for the college. The college has no plans to reconsider opening the branch, which is expected to have 500 to 1,000 students in February, she said -